Snowboardind+Christine=Retard!

Queenstown baby!!!!

arrived in Queenstown yesterday evening after an 8 hour bus ride!!!

The night before i left for Queenstown Kylie,Liam,Keane and myself went to The Lone Star for dinner...waooow the food was fab...yum yum

So back to this bus rider...8 FECKIN HOURS!!!...but the views were breathtaking...my photos do not do it justice...a couple of times i found myself looking up and staring out the window my mouth wide open in shock at how beautiful the views were.esp at Lake Tykapo(not sure of the spelling)...just the colour of the water alone was amazing...a kind of milky green...like water from a hotspring...

i arrived in Queenstown around 7 and it was FREEZING...lucky id bought a big warm coat in the op shop and a pair of boots...i got into my hostel called BASE and checked in...to say i miss my old hostel "The Ritz" is a bit of an understatement...the room is tiny and packed to the brim...and smelly...was kept awake all night with people snoring...im used to ollie snoring...but never actually been woken up by someone b4...

so i booked my snowboard lessons and my swing...

went snowboarding today...got the bus at 9am to Coronet Peak...id hired all my ski gear the night b4... so got up the mountain and met my instructor Mike....a group of us went to the "magic carpet" slope for beginners....so we spent the next 2 hours tryin to stay up on the board and do a few turns...god...i was useless at it....i faceplanted a few times....did a few superman impressions...and skidded down the hill on my arse and side....just about managed to stay up on the board while a photographer took a pic of me...which i had to buy cause i had noone with me to take pics of me while i fell over and stuff and i wanted one that made i look like i could actually snowboard...its NOT easy....i used muscles today that i didnt even know i had...and tommorrow il feel them even more!

so i got the bus back and returned my gear....

Tomorrow...THE SWING!!!!...then meeting up with a couple of lads i met on the plane to sydney before i get the bus at 9am back to Christchurch...another 8 hours

New Zealand

im not having much look with these flights am i?
got to the airport and was sent to the wrong terminal...got to the right one and they asked me for my return ticket....oooppps...id only bought a oneway cause i didnt know how long i was staying...so had to book my flight to Cairns then and there...see im going to cairns to meet my friend selina who i met in melbourne b4 she heads back to the UK....and i booked the WRONG date...im going to miss her completely...and had to pay $360!!!
then my flight was delayed...again...
arrived safely and thats all that matters...Liam and his girlfriend Kylie met me in the airport and we drove through Christchurch to Lyttleton where they both live with Kylies son Keane...
we visited a couple of the bars in the little town and got fish and chips for $4! thats less than 2euro!!!Liam and his friend showed me around Christchurch city.and we went to the rugby club to watch the All Blacks V Australia and i met an ex All Blacks player who also played for Blackrock back home!Kylie and Liam drove me around loads and showed me some beautiful places, like the cave and Tyler's mistake....think thats wat their called anyway!?!
we were supposed to go up to Liams mams house but she got sick with swine flu so that was called off...
got my tickets sorted for cairns...firstly they said it'd cost me $600 to change the date on my ticket....then it went down to $70!?!...so the plan is to meet up with selina on tuesday in Cairns stay for just over a week...enough time to get a tan...then back to melbourne to find a job...:(

Goon warriors and Penguins

The Tuesday after neighbours was Bad taste Tuesday where everyone had to dress up in bad taste...so me selina and jenny decided to go as Goon Warriors...because Goon tastes bad! i spent ages makin helmets from goon boxes...then later we made breast plates and swords....we looked ridiculous...but it was all in bad taste...they were so awkward to move in...after around we had changed.i was a hangover and selina a slapper...the hostel was full of chavs, pregnant teens,white people who painted themselves black...and just people wearin really bad clothes....it was a great night followed by 2for1 drinks in cushion...the next morning i didnt have to dress up as a hangover...ughhh
Thursday night is ladies night...with it being my last ladies night we had to do it in style....goon in the hostel then a game of pool to win a $50 bar tab for hotel Barkley or one for base...we lost...but bought the one for Base for 2 bottles of coke of the guys who weren't headin out hahaha!...but noone likes base so it was just me and Selina...My friends from Cavan were supposed to be there but didnt know i was coming...so when i got in i text them and low and behold they were in hotel Barkley with my other friends...so we drank the bar tab and went to meet them....with more free drink vouchers!!!uhoh!!!...great night...i think...
penguins...who knew there were penguins in Australia!?!?....but just 10 min walk from my hostel there is a pier that at sunset loads of penguins come to shore!!!these little grey penguins hiding in the rocks...madness...got some cool pic's...still cant believe it..penguins in Australia

neighbours

one of the lads in the hostel called Clem asked me if i wanted to go on the neighbours tour....hmmmm....first thing i thought was "cheesey" but HAY!?! when am i going to get to this again!?!...so we got up on the Monday and got on the Neighbours bus....it was exactly like i thought it would be "cheesey"...but i loved it....we watched a dvd on the way to Ramsay St all about the singers from the show...Kylie-licious...so we stopped off at the high school and then to the studio.we got to see some of the props like Dr Carl Kennedy's car and "grease monkey's"...ok i haven't watched neighbours in years so Clem had to explain alot to me...next stop was Ramsey street....which is feckin tiny...only 6 houses!but one of the stars of the show was there...Stingray...he's actually dead in the show,but i still got my photo taken with him and got his autograph on a post card...me and Clem took some pic's in front of the houses but soon got bored and decided to pole dance around the Ramsay Street sign...
that night a couple of us from the hostel went to the neighbours night in the pub downstairs...some cast members showed up and we got more photos and autographs...i got one with Dr kennedy holdin my leg and pulling face haha...we also own the quiz with our team name as "the ritz, pick your nose and taste the neighbours"$250 between us...SWEET!!!
so there was a part of the night where the crowed asked the cast questions and a quiet drunken Clem asked Dylan when exactly did he come out of the closet....it didn't go down very well...plus he never actually answered the question...!...then at the very end Dr Carl Kennedy and his band got up and sang for the rest of the night.surprise they weren't too bad....
it was a cheese'tastic day and night...but it was sooo much fun...thanks Clem for suggesting it..
xxx

the pool

a group of us "backpackers" decided to go for a swim the other day down to the aquatic centre.its only a short tram ride away...but still took us 3 attempts to finally get there.we were told it was 2 stops away...so missed the stop, got off, got a tram back, got off again and realized that no it was further up..so we finally made it.it was huge with 4 different pools,a slide, diving boards,sauna..the works....so we had a play in the wave pool haha then i saw this blow up obstacle course in one of the pools.all the kids were running through it and fallin and getting back up again so i decided id give it a go....i stepped on and fell straight away...got back up...tripped and landed in the pool...i lasted all of 4 seconds!didnt even make it over the 1st obstacle!
we had some fun on the slide and had a bit of a swim and went home knackered!

The Great Ocean Road

ok so i finally got a computer that works....
i went on a trip with a lovely couple from my hostel called sinead and ciaran...got up at 6am!!!after a night out and got on a bus to start our trip on THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD!
it was AMAZING!!!!Its basically a big long road that hugs the coast line for 100's of miles. it was built after WW1 by the soldiers who came home.Fair play 2them because all they had was pick axes and wheelbarrows.So one of the first places we stopped of was called Bells beach...this is the beach where point break was filmed.we also passed the light house where "round the twist" was set!!!!!(have u ever...ever felt like this)The views were so beautiful....but as most of you know i can sleep anywhere and the bus was the quietest place iv been in a month so it was light out for me most of the way...but i did see all the important stuff like the cool tempt rain forest and some wild life koalas and kangaroos!!!we drove all day mostly stopping off at different beaches for some photo op's...i cant explain how magnificent theses places were.So driving along the coat we saw 2 whales.we were told we were very lucky to see them because it wasnt the season for whales!
when we stopped of for lunch we decided to get some fish and chips....the fish we got was called flake!sinead tried to tell me it was shark but i wouldn't believe her...until we asked the bus driver and he said that yes indeed it was shark!!....so yeah i did enjoy my fist bit of shark...i also had some sushi for the first time...but chickened out and just got a tuna rool...im not ready for the raw stuff yet!
so one of our last stop off was called the 12 apostles.its 12 free standing formations out on the coast.but we decided to do it in style and got a helicopter to fly over them!!!it was sooo cool!and i got some excellent photos.after the helicopter we had a very quick walk down to see them again on the ground before we had to run back for the bus.we also went to see "London Bridge" which is another rock that use to be attached to the land and looked like London bridge but one day half of it fell into the sea,and 2 people were stranded on it,when the tv crew helicopter came to rescue them they didnt want to be on tv....because they were on a dirty weekend away and were married....but not to each other...hahaha!!
it was a really good day and when we got back to Melbourne we went to the crown casino to see the fire show outside.these big pillars blowing huge flames into the sky.we were standing pretty far away and could still feel the heat...